I was very lucky to
be introduced to skiing a couple of years ago by Elizabeth and her awesome
family. I’ve had 2 weeks skiing and would call myself a happy intermediate. Unfortunately,
every single website and advice board I checked suggested that Gulmarg was not
a place for "happy intermediates" and should only be considered as
the playground for the most advanced off paste skiers. Undeterred I packed my
bags and with J.P and Ellie we flew off to Srinagar. from here it’s a hair
raising two hour drive up the mountain to the Gulmarg hill station. First
impressions. It’s a bloody big mountain and there is a hell of a lot of snow!
That evening we
headed out to collect our skis from the immensely knowledgeable Yusef, who’s
kindness and help in Gulmarg made our trip extra special. I started off with
some alpine skis to find my ski legs before venturing off into the wild. The
first 2 day where spent only Gulmarg’s only groomed "piste" the road
up to the Gondola. It wasn’t long before I was searching for the bunny runs and
heading off into the trees! At the end of the second day I headed back to Yusef
to pick up some powder skis. Those things are damn big! I went with the logic
of, If I dive in at the deep end... at least the powder is soft and won’t hurt
that much if I fall over. What I failed to take into consideration was the fact
that when you wipe out in powder, your skis have a habit of burying themselves.
Also, it is incredible hard to make your way back up hill when the snow is a
couple of meters deep. So, over the next 8 days with the support from Ellie on
her snowboard I got braver and braver with my adventures off piste. After a
couple of days, the weather closed in and we were set for 3 days of continuous
snowfall. In those 3 days it dropped 3 meters of snow! instead of stopping to
rest we headed into the shelters of the trees. Once more these provided a new
and very interesting challenge. After a run through the trees you would hit the
road and from the road you got a taxi back to the top to do it all over again.
After 6 days my
body was starting to feel it from the abuse it was getting and J.P and Ellie
agreed that it would be nice to take a day off. So, we set about the task of
building a snow hole. I must say I would never like to have to dig one in an emergency.
those things take forever!
 |
| Taxi! |
 |
| Team Wipeout |
 |
| Deep powder |
 |
| Indian Army, protecting the Gondala |
 |
| The morning biscuit run |
to maximise our
time on the powder and because we are poor students, lunch usually consisted of
a couple of packets of Oreos stuffed in whilst on the Gondola. I forgot to
mention one of my favourite things about Gulmarg! it was empty. In total there
must have been a maximum of 20 international skiers there when we arrived.
There was never a queue for the lift and there was never a need to show your
lift pass as the lift operators recognised you. Now that’s my kind of hospitality.
This season was abnormally quiet, and this was down to demonetization that took
place in November and the heightening tension in Srinagar was making it a bad
choice for international travellers. I can’t say I was sorry, but I felt bad
seeing the impact that this had on the local economy.
video by Ellie Selley:
Comments
Post a Comment